The TT Football Club

It seems amazing but they have brought in either a Spaniard or an Argentinian, I can't remember which. No doubt a capable manager but not the obvious match for Southampton. We might think that it is a club that has done very well in the last few seasons and now needs to consolidate its position in the Premiership. The club management on the other hand seems to think that world domination beckons. I may eat my words when they become the new Barcelona of course but they seem very ambititous. I suppose there are similarities between Barcelona and Southampton -- both are by the sea, for example. But there also important differences -- Barcelona has a legendary football academy, huge support, an international brand, has always been one of the biggest clubs in Spain and is nowhere near the Isle of Wight. Only a small number of clubs can dominate world football at any time and there are many trying to do it.

I wonder if sorting the Cole contract out means Abramovich already has a manager lined up for the summer. Obviously he wanted to clear out the bigger ego's to make way for a new manager to make his mark, maybe discussing the future with the new manager lead to him wanting Cole to be part of it. Mourinho certainly would want Cole, here's hoping!

Haha. Pretty much sums up where the club is - plenty of talent, high wages, no desire, no fight, no drive, no sense of responsibility, easy excuses, poor organisation, poor discipline, non-existent leadership etc etc. It's all well and good saying "Arsenal looked better in the 2nd half against City, Chelsea" etc, but the end result is the same every time. Any team will get at least two easy (if not 'free') goals against us, and most can get away with playing for 30 minutes or less to get a result.

You can see what difference buying the real quality players make, with Mata and Hazard able to keep the ball and beat players when under pressure. Obviously we can't afford them, but you don't get the same from 'above average' PL players, and 'good' Ligue 1 signings.

Sagna's fall from grace since returning from injury has been staggering; he's constantly losing possession, always being caught out of position, and his delivery is embarrassing. Giroud has started to go backwards since his slight improvement earlier in the season - the look on his face after he loses the ball / misses a chance every time is that of a loser (i.e thinks he's been hard done by, rather than being self-critical, or looking to rebound). Ramsey and the Ox seem to have stalled in their development (less worrying in Ox's case, as he's young, and been injured). In the defensive third it's as if there is no prior gameplan - shambolic nonsense, where there is no collective responsibility for keeping the opposition at bay. Throw-ins are a joke - we seem to lose the ball EVERY time within 3 seconds. Our only attacking option on the bench in a vital game today was Arshavin, a player who doesn't care, and who we've desperately been trying to get rid of - and that was only thanks to an even worse player, Gervinho, fortunately having departed to the African Cup of Nations.

West Ham next, and then Liverpool. We could be below Liverpool sooner rather than later. At least the next few games offer the possibility of turning over a new leaf and trying to build some consistency.

Haha. Pretty much sums up where the club is - plenty of talent, high wages, no desire, no fight, no drive, no sense of responsibility, easy excuses, poor organisation, poor discipline, non-existent leadership etc etc. It's all well and good saying "Arsenal looked better in the 2nd half against City, Chelsea" etc, but the end result is the same every time. Any team will get at least two easy (if not 'free') goals against us, and most can get away with playing for 30 minutes or less to get a result.

You can see what difference buying the real quality players make, with Mata and Hazard able to keep the ball and beat players when under pressure. Obviously we can't afford them, but you don't get the same from 'above average' PL players, and 'good' Ligue 1 signings.

Sagna's fall from grace since returning from injury has been staggering; he's constantly losing possession, always being caught out of position, and his delivery is embarrassing. Giroud has started to go backwards since his slight improvement earlier in the season - the look on his face after he loses the ball / misses a chance every time is that of a loser (i.e thinks he's been hard done by, rather than being self-critical, or looking to rebound). Ramsey and the Ox seem to have stalled in their development (less worrying in Ox's case, as he's young, and been injured). In the defensive third it's as if there is no prior gameplan - shambolic nonsense, where there is no collective responsibility for keeping the opposition at bay. Throw-ins are a joke - we seem to lose the ball EVERY time within 3 seconds. Our only attacking option on the bench in a vital game today was Arshavin, a player who doesn't care, and who we've desperately been trying to get rid of - and that was only thanks to an even worse player, Gervinho, fortunately having departed to the African Cup of Nations.

West Ham next, and then Liverpool. We could be below Liverpool sooner rather than later. At least the next few games offer the possibility of turning over a new leaf and trying to build some consistency.

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Not a bad fixture list going forward. But yeah, Sagna has been pretty miserable lately. His crosses are way off. There is still a glaring need for a defensive midfielder so Wilshere and Arteta can have a bit more freedom.

Wilshere seems to me the only one that cares about the club nowadays....

Actually, having not said much here about Spurs here for a while, just want to say - and in contrast to quite a few other Prem teams who you may have expected a bit more from, like, eek! Newcastle, for example - I'm pretty impressed with how AVB has begun to imbed his tactics, philosophy, whatever and got us playing - and not only that but also playing with real spirit too - today being a great example as IMO we not only deserved the point with Utd, we quite possibly deserved all three.

In a basic way, you do get the sense he is molding the younger players to play a very certain way, and the ones he's brought in have to compliment and be in line with this. An exciting off-shoot being the (delayed but secured) capture of Lewis Holtby from German football.

There are a few other things I've liked the look of... not least the IMMENSE form of Vertonghen (what a superb signing)... the way Defoe has reemerged, Dawson too actually... the way our ripped apart side (VdV and Modders sold) has relatively quickly found a new personality and authority... Sandro, Bale and Lennon's form under AVB... etc.

Actually, having not said much here about Spurs here for a while, just want to say - and in contrast to quite a few other Prem teams who you may have expected a bit more from, like, eek! Newcastle, for example - I'm pretty impressed with how AVB has begun to imbed his tactics, philosophy, whatever and got us playing - and not only that but also playing with real spirit too - today being a great example as IMO we not only deserved the point with Utd, we quite possibly deserved all three.

In a basic way, you do get the sense he is molding the younger players to play a very certain way, and the ones he's brought in have to compliment and be in line with this. An exciting off-shoot being the (delayed but secured) capture of Lewis Holtby from German football.

There are a few other things I've liked the look of... not least the IMMENSE form of Vertonghen (what a superb signing)... the way Defoe has reemerged, Dawson too actually... the way our ripped apart side (VdV and Modders sold) has relatively quickly found a new personality and authority... Sandro, Bale and Lennon's form under AVB... etc.

Anyway... yeah, I was one happy bunny when that goal went in.:grin:

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Hey Ross, fellow spurs fan here. I was screaming like a baby when that goal went in and i was urging us forward to try and take all 3 points like Everton did to us last year. By all accounts we dominated possession and had 3 times many more shots than united so we at least deserved a draw although they had a penalty claim.

I agree that despite my reservations about AVB he has done a solid job and has made us more tactically sound. With Redknapp we would have never taken 4 points of united. In fact this is the first time in 20 years that united have not beaten us since the Premier league began. That in itself is a testament to the work AVB is doing. IMO AVB is head and shoulders above Redknapp in tactics and strategy.

Take for example the way we restricted united to 4 shots on goal while having 24 shots ourselves and despite this we maintained a solid shape. In years gone by we would have taken a 2-0 lead and crumbled 3-2 or 5-2. This time we have a plan and stick to it so i am very pleased with AVB and think that with further investment of players like Holtby, and hopefully Jao Moutinho and a solid striker we could make a splash at the league in a few seasons.

Although, being a Spurs fan down the years (too many miserably lean years to recount), if there's one thing I've learned re optimistic forecasts, it's to tread cautiously... VERY cautiously. :shock: :wink:

Although, being a Spurs fan down the years (too many miserably lean years to recount), if there's one thing I've learned re optimistic forecasts, it's to tread cautiously... VERY cautiously. :shock: :wink:

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Hard to see Spurs drop points in the second half of the season again like last year, where you guys finished the final 16 games with 23 points. Dont see that happening TBH.

Spurs have gunners/pool in the first 2 weeks of March, think that could be the decider for 4th. If Liverpool can maintain the current 7 point gap till Spurs visit, 4th could be well within reach if we manage a victory. But we have 2 tough games coming up and the 7 point gap could potentially be 10+, if thats the case, we can kiss 4th goodbye regardless of the result that day.

I didn't see the game tonight, but when I heard Hazard got sent off for kicking a ball boy, I was pretty embarrassed.

I got home and saw it, what's all the fuss about? A 17 year old was lying on top of the ball to stop Hazard getting it, he dislodged it with his foot and carried on. Good on him I say.

I saw the ball kid saying he would be doing it during the game on Twitter. Chelsea had already complained about them not giving the ball back and informed the referee. Obviously Swansea had told them to not give the ball back, it happens. Just a shame nothing was done about it when it first happened and it was brought to the attention of the referee earlier.

I didn't see the game tonight, but when I heard Hazard got sent off for kicking a ball boy, I was pretty embarrassed.

I got home and saw it, what's all the fuss about? A 17 year old was lying on top of the ball to stop Hazard getting it, he dislodged it with his foot and carried on. Good on him I say.

I saw the ball kid saying he would be doing it during the game on Twitter. Chelsea had already complained about them not giving the ball back and informed the referee. Obviously Swansea had told them to not give the ball back, it happens. Just a shame nothing was done about it when it first happened and it was brought to the attention of the referee earlier.

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It's ridiculous. I just read about the idiot ball boy being on twitter before game saying to watch out for his time-wasting antics... WTF?! Shouldn't HE be disciplined and investigated? Actually, maybe the likes of Villa or Newcastle should sign him up?

Anyhow, you do have to say big congrats are defintely due to the highly impressive Laudrup and Swansea.

It's ridiculous. I just read about the idiot ball boy being on twitter before game saying to watch out for his time-wasting antics... WTF?! Shouldn't HE be disciplined and investigated? Actually, maybe the likes of Villa or Newcastle should sign him up?

Anyhow, you do have to say big congrats are defintely due to the highly impressive Laudrup and Swansea.

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Maybe they should! He could do a job for Liverpool too probably, take the load off Suarez and his diving the way he rolled around on the floor was classic. Hazard toe poked it out from underneath him and he acted like he'd taken a shotgun round to the stomach. It wasn't a one off, they were keeping the ball all game, as you said you have to give Swansea great credit and it's very much deserved, but they should take alot of criticism for the instructions they give ball kids.

As for the Tweet.. 'The king of all ball boys is back making his final appearance #needed #for #timewasting'.

I don't even see why Hazard should have been sent off. The ball boy is 17, and was wilfully obstructing the game, and rightfully was roughed up for his trouble by a player trying to get on with it. Had it been a sub-16 year old, or there actually been real force used, then I would understand, but all that's happened here is a gobby kid been taught a largely painless lesson for p!ssing about.

I don't even see why Hazard should have been sent off. The ball boy is 17, and was wilfully obstructing the game, and rightfully was roughed up for his trouble by a player trying to get on with it. Had it been a sub-16 year old, or there actually been real force used, then I would understand, but all that's happened here is a gobby kid been taught a largely painless lesson for p!ssing about.

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Are you suggesting that every player that feigns injury to waste time should get kicked in? I find myself almost in agreement.

Sagna's fall from grace since returning from injury has been staggering; he's constantly losing possession, always being caught out of position, and his delivery is embarrassing.

Giroud has started to go backwards since his slight improvement

West Ham next, and then Liverpool. We could be below Liverpool sooner rather than later. At least the next few games offer the possibility of turning over a new leaf and trying to build some consistency.

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So true especially re these two. Won't be sad to see Sagna go. Carl can fill his place.

Nice start against Hammers yesterday. Theo has great all year but has a swagger now that he's signed da ting.

I don't even see why Hazard should have been sent off. The ball boy is 17, and was wilfully obstructing the game, and rightfully was roughed up for his trouble by a player trying to get on with it. Had it been a sub-16 year old, or there actually been real force used, then I would understand, but all that's happened here is a gobby kid been taught a largely painless lesson for p!ssing about.

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I can see that this is complicated by the fact that the ballboy is so obviously a dick. But if Hazard had kicked a Swansea player who had thrown the ball away at a free kick or throw in he would have been sent off. So I can't see why it was wrong to send him off for what he did to the ballboy Of course he may justifiably regret not having kicked him harder.

So true especially re these two. Won't be sad to see Sagna go. Carl can fill his place.

Nice start against Hammers yesterday. Theo has great all year but has a swagger now that he's signed da ting.

Just think how good we'd be with RvP and how bad Utd would be.

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Funny as I was thinking during the Spurs - Man U game just how good we could be with a top, top quality striker a la an RvP-type (admittedly players of his brilliance are thin on the ground lol.) If Levy could identify a true world class finisher and pull off the signing, I do think Spurs could be a major force.

BTW, I was hitting with my new Steam 99s earlier and I was thinking there's pretty much nothing I don't like about the frame... I then thought about the cosmetics and realized actually THIS I don't like about it... urgh, it's distinctly Man U in paintjob terms. :grin:

I can see that this is complicated by the fact that the ballboy is so obviously a dick. But if Hazard had kicked a Swansea player who had thrown the ball away at a free kick or throw in he would have been sent off. So I can't see why it was wrong to send him off for what he did to the ballboy Of course he may justifiably regret not having kicked him harder.

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To be fair, the ball boy didn't simply kick it away. Kicking someone under those circumstances would be wrong on every level, no doubt. To kick the ball from under anyone who was lying on it to waste time? That's different.

I think it's funny how people are saying how spoilt these top players are and their behaviour is poor. This kid is the owners son who posted pictures of massive bills he's ran up in hotels on his Dad's money. Hazard is only a couple of years older than him, has worked hard to get what he has and still drives around in a Peugeot 206. It's a shame he's being tarred with the same brush. No wonder the big players are choosing Spain over England.

So Mourinho is out at Real Madrid in the summer no matter what happens to them in the Champions League and if they defeat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey.

Hopefully he can come back to Chelsea, and take Ozil, Khedira, Modric and maybe even a cool forward like Benzema with him! I wonder who else will exit the Bernabeau in the upcoming firesale. And who will manage Los Blancos next? Has anyone heard the rumors of Wenger taking over if the supporters drive him out of Arsenal? Wenger at Real Madrid with a sizable budget would be awesome.

Funny as I was thinking during the Spurs - Man U game just how good we could be with a top, top quality striker a la an RvP-type (admittedly players of his brilliance are thin on the ground lol.) If Levy could identify a true world class finisher and pull off the signing, I do think Spurs could be a major force.

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Time to fess up Ross, I knew 'arry had some shady dealings going on there but it's gotten out of control the more is learned about his time there -- hope you get relegated after finding out this new shocking information

So Mourinho is out at Real Madrid in the summer no matter what happens to them in the Champions League and if they defeat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey.

Hopefully he can come back to Chelsea, and take Ozil, Khedira, Modric and maybe even a cool forward like Benzema with him! I wonder who else will exit the Bernabeau in the upcoming firesale. And who will manage Los Blancos next? Has anyone heard the rumors of Wenger taking over if the supporters drive him out of Arsenal? Wenger at Real Madrid with a sizable budget would be awesome.

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I can't see any players going with him this time! They all seem to hate him and will be glad to get rid. Even if there are some who would want to, a team like Real Madrid will look to sell to anyone but Mourinho i'd imagine.

As for who would take over, maybe Klopp, Low or Laudrup. It can all change before the summer though.

To be fair, the ball boy didn't simply kick it away. Kicking someone under those circumstances would be wrong on every level, no doubt. To kick the ball from under anyone who was lying on it to waste time? That's different.

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Not different enough. Kicking someone for wasting time should see you sent off. All the same the ballboy seems a complete dick.

Not different enough. Kicking someone for wasting time should see you sent off. All the same the ballboy seems a complete dick.

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He kicked him? The footage shows him kicking and dislodging the ball, he didn't touch the kid. If we're treating the ballboy the same as we would a player who was time wasting, he would be the one getting a yellow card, whilst Hazard would of got nothing for knocking the ball free.

When goalkeepers keep hold of the ball after they concede and the opponent tries to get it back, that would mean from now on they would get sent off and the keeper would get away with it.

Someone at work yesterday who is known for his dislike of Chelsea (he's always fun to have a chat about football with ) was backing Hazard, even if he still hasn't forgiven him yet for not choosing Man Utd in the summer! He said if the ballboy was his kid, he'd be making him apologise and would of been ashamed of his actions. Even Swansea fans interviewed on the news yesterday were uncomfortable with it, which is great credit to them. The team have been amazing for the Premier League, it's good to see their fans aren't afraid to tell it how it is.

He kicked him? The footage shows him kicking and dislodging the ball, he didn't touch the kid. If we're treating the ballboy the same as we would a player who was time wasting, he would be the one getting a yellow card, whilst Hazard would of got nothing for knocking the ball free.

When goalkeepers keep hold of the ball after they concede and the opponent tries to get it back, that would mean from now on they would get sent off and the keeper would get away with it.

Someone at work yesterday who is known for his dislike of Chelsea (he's always fun to have a chat about football with ) was backing Hazard, even if he still hasn't forgiven him yet for not choosing Man Utd in the summer! He said if the ballboy was his kid, he'd be making him apologise and would of been ashamed of his actions. Even Swansea fans interviewed on the news yesterday were uncomfortable with it, which is great credit to them. The team have been amazing for the Premier League, it's good to see their fans aren't afraid to tell it how it is.

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No -- they would only be sent off if they kicked the goalie. And they would obviously be sent off if they did that. Beckham was sent off in a World Cup match for trying and failing to kick an opponent. I agree that what the ballboy did was wrong but Hazard's actions were also wrong.

Time to fess up Ross, I knew 'arry had some shady dealings going on there but it's gotten out of control the more is learned about his time there -- hope you get relegated after finding out this new shocking information

Not much better for Chelsea either! Azpilicueta on for Ivanovic with 10 minutes to go? Oh, Rafa.

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Yeah he got his tactics wrong again didn't he? I wasn't surprised but then again he has done some stupid things over the years. We've played some good football under Rafa but then again we've also had some embarrassing performances. We need to find someone new who isn't prone to awful decision making like Rafa, and keep them at the club for a while. No more of this rotating manager crap.

Looks like Balotell is being seriously courted by Serie A sides and I think Mancini is cool with that.

Is it just me, or anyone else totally underwhelmed by him in the Prem?

On his day he can be unplayable. Unfortunately though, that day seems to arrive like one out of every ten games or something. His goals record isn't exactly Shearer-esque. His temperament seems, shall we say, highly flawed. There's always a huge tedious circus around him and his every utterance or bust up.

In short, I can't believe he'll be a big loss for City should he depart for Italy.

Looks like Balotell is being seriously courted by Serie A sides and I think Mancini is cool with that.

Is it just me, or anyone else totally underwhelmed by him in the Prem?

On his day he can be unplayable. Unfortunately though, that day seems to arrive like one out of every ten games or something. His goals record isn't exactly Shearer-esque. His temperament seems, shall we say, highly flawed. There's always a huge tedious circus around him and his every utterance or bust up.

In short, I can't believe he'll be a big loss for City should he depart for Italy.

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I think City will be fine, they will get someone else in the summer no doubt. It certainly free's up space and money to go after Falcao.

As for Balotelli, personally I wanted to see him go to Juventus. The way he played with Giovinco in the Euro's was fantastic, it would of been good to see them playing together every week in Serie A. I don't think it was ever going to happen, with Balotelli being an AC Milan fan and his poor relationship with the Juventus fans from his time with Inter. I'm not sure how it will work out footballing wise, El Shaarawy certainly seems to be the main man and the one for the future in Milan. Will be interesting to see how they link up.

So good in the Euros but not worth the trouble, even Mourinho called him uncoachable.

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Shame all that talent goes to waste though. Mou also said he was the most talented player he'd ever seen. There's no doubt the guy can play....when he wants to.

Reminds me of when Sporting had Ronaldo and Quaresma way back when, it was always said that Quaresma was the more talented of the two, but when he left for Barcelona it all just went to hell for him. He was considered uncoachable too but like Balotelli his talent was too great. And the guy's career went to the trash because of attitude-related problems. Sucked at Barcelona then was decent at Porto but then went to Inter, where he sucked, then to Chelsea, where he couldn't even get into the first team, went to Turkey and now he's playing in Dubai.

And we all know what happened to Ronaldo.

Balo needs to clean up his act, shame like I said because I think he is world class on his day. His first goal against Spain last summer was amazing. Maybe Milan will make him change. Probably won't happen though. He could have been great.

What happened in the Chelsea game? I looked at the scoreboard in the 84th minute after watching the Arsenal game and thought it to be 3 points for the Blues.

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Reading went for it, they were behind so it made sense. Rafa made his usual like-for-like, pointless substitutions (Benayoun for Mata, pfft).

His record is shocking, it certainly puts Di Matteo's start to the season into perspective. When he came in, we were still playing fairly well and the Oscar, Mata, Hazard system was resulting in some really attractive stuff. People said Benitez would want less of that, but be alot better on the defensive end. Well, we're just as bad at the back, except he's lost all the creative flair and attractive football we had under Di Matteo. He's basically just come in and messed up the good points, whilst doing nothing to fix the bad.

It's got to the stage where it is beyond embarrassing. Wenger talks about having "accidents" as if they are isolated incidents, but it is the same defensively EVERY game for the whole 90 minutes. There's no plan, no organisation, and noone wants to take responsibility; every defender at the club has at least one major error in them a game. I've banged on about this all season, but we are giving the opposition at least two free goals every game. No disrespect to Liverpool (who should have been 4 up by half time, without having to play at their top level), but based on our performance in the first 60 minutes we would probably be trailing to any team in the top two divisions. Even at the weekend against Brighton we gifted them two goals in which their goalscorer was completely unmarked because the defensive line just stood still.

We play Bayern in a couple of weeks. Were we to perform as we did tonight I don't think it would be fanciful to suggest that we would lose 8-0 or more. We are a total, total shambles. Embarrassing at best.

And I can't for the life of me understand why Wenger brought on Santos, when he had the option of Koscielny (moving Vermaelen to LB), or Jenkinson.

Our return from the three big games that was supposedly the pivotal point of our season? City (H) L, Chelsea (A) L, Liverpool (H) D ... 1 point from 9. Small, mid-table club.

Boring match overall between Lazio and Juventus but one of the best endings of the season.
With Llorente coming next year, if he repeats his last year performance by Athletic, Juventus might be nearly unstoppable next year.

When was the red card ? Don't remember anymore.

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If I am wrong, early second time.

And I can't for the life of me understand why Wenger brought on Santos

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I remember when Arsenal signed him, lots of fellow Brasilians that post in another forum mocked of the contracting. Aparrently they were correct